Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Stress

Stress, every job has it.

I again want to state that I like graduate school, despite my temporary mood swings regarding the subject. I'm in an interesting position at the moment; I'm currently surrounded by people who are leading very stress filled lives, and I by proxy, am also stressed out.

I have a friend just entering into his PhD, and he is mildly freaking out about his candidacy exam (the thing that determines if they'll even allow you to continue).

I just recently had a handful of friends finish up their PhDs. Part of being a friend is being there to offer an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on. My ears and shoulders have been well used this year! I've offered up my house to people who need a place to stay, and I've done what I can to try to help out, while still maintaining my own sanity.

I'm also currently living with a friend who is finishing up. I have to say, given how much trouble she's gotten from her adviser's revisions and general flakiness, she's handling it well. She's writing a blog about her final experiences here, I have a link to it on my homepage. You should check it out if you haven't already.

All jobs have stress, and I'm sure life after graduate school will also be stressful. We just have to be hopeful and believe that if we want it badly enough, it'll all be worth it.

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This is the story of finishing my master's thesis at Penn State and moving to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque to start, and hopefully complete, a PhD. It's a major change and a huge adjustment and I'll be documenting my successes, mistakes, musings, triumphs, and tragedies.

About Me

Throughout my master's degree, I witnessed my friends with their PhDs, suffering immensely. I decided in the 11th hour of my thesis that I wanted to join them. To that end, I moved to Albuquerque to attend the University of New Mexico in fall 2010. That means I moved away from friends and family on the east coast for adventures out in the southwest. Temporary moment of insanity? Nah.
I'm a paleoecologist, which means I study fossils to understand long term ecological trends in earth's history. My current research is on the last ice age, specifically, changes in climate and associated effects on biota.